2009 was the year I became caught up in the whirl that some people have named “social media” (like media wasn’t social before the invention of the computer). That aside, I’ve been feeling lately like I’ve been neglecting The Spiralling Shape in favour of facebook status updates, twittering, and youtube. Where once I would put everything on to the blog, now I have started favouriting videos on my youtube channel rather than posting them here. And I feel incapable of writing my thoughts in more than 140 characters thanks to the live action of the twitter stream which keeps me amused throughout the working day. Facebook also worked some evil magic on me during 2009. For a while there I became obsessed with completing the quizzes to find out just what my star sign meant, what animal I was, was I true nerd, what 2009 movie and/or song I was, and which Simpsons character was most like me (Lisa if you’re interested). My attention span, already destroyed by a lifetime of watching television, became even shorter. I seem incapable of concentrating on any one thing for longer than 5 minutes.

It’s a technologically induced distraction. The first thing I do when I get to work in the morning is open my email, twitter, facebook, the university homepage, windows live messenger, and then anything else that takes my fancy. I also have the iPhone close by so I can periodically check my home email. Now I realise this is probably a mild case of distraction compared to what others might get through in the day. In one sense it’s valuable in a multitasking sort of fashion. In another, it’s hopeless because when I really do have to concentrate I seem to have forgotten how.

So my aim for this year is to reclaim the blog if possible. Starting my research secondment in June means I need to find some writing skills again. And the only way to do that is to write. This doesn’t mean I won’t tweet or update my facebook status, and I’ll certainly continue my vanity project of playing the piano and sometimes singing, recording it on my iPhone and forcing my few friends to suffer through the viewing of the videos. However, it’s time to return to thinking and writing about….well….stuff…TV…music…reading…shopping…trivia…all the tremendously substantial and thoughtful content that readers of the Spiralling Shape have come to know and adore.

(Yes I know, I did go too far with “adore”. Sorry)